Just last week, US Airways(LCC) announced a merger with American Airlines parent AMR(AAMRQ), Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway(BRKA) announced it was buying Heinz(HNZ), and Comcas(CMCSA)t announced a $16.7 billion deal for the 49% of NBC Universal that was still owned by General Electri(GE)c.

Both Office Depot and OfficeMax are dwarfed by Staples(SPLS), which operates 2,248 stores worldwide and had 2011 sales of $25 billion. Staples has also face increased competition from online retailers, such as Amazon(AMZN). Staples shares were also up nearly 14% in early trading.

The merger talks were widely reported Monday, when U.S. markets were closed for a holiday.